Women dominating leadership roles at AOC

AOC: Women are being appointed to more leadership roles by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) with three Olympians in charge of future Teams.

Alisa Camplin, gold medallist in aerial skiing at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake, is the latest appointment as Chef de Mission of Australia’s 2016 Winter Youth Team in Lillehammer, Norway.

She joins another Olympic champion, Susie O’Neill, who as Chef de Mission is leading 91 athletes to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, in August this year.

And Kitty Chiller, a Sydney 2000 Olympian in Modern Pentathlon, is Chef de Mission of the Australian Olympic Team competing at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

“All three women excelled on the field of play and their sporting prowess and leadership qualities will come to the fore in these new roles” said AOC President John Coates.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Olympic Committee in Sydney today, Coates said “We have gender equality in most of our Teams and therefore it is to be expected that Teams in the 21st century would be led by women”.

In addition 5 of the 12 elected members of the AOC Executive are women, with 4 of them Olympians (Kitty Chiller, Kim Crow, Nicole Livingstone and Danielle Woodward).

Coates congratulated the three medal winners from this year’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Torah Bright, Lydia Lassila and David Morris and said the results from our young Team of 60 athletes, many of whom were first-timers, “augers well for the next Winter Games in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea”.

After raising concerns recently about Rio’s readiness, Coates said the Brazilian Organising Committee remains confident of “hosting an excellent Games that will be delivered absolutely within the agreed timelines and budgets”.

“And as I said, there is no Plan B. We the IOC, the International Federations and the Organising Committee have to make this happen by working together over the next two years”.

OLYMPIC: In years squashed between a Summer and Winter Olympics, you get a wonderful blend of inspiration. From the slopes of Austria to the Australian shores, you don't have to look far to see Australian athletes striving for excellence. Relive the #ASPIREtoSochi #ASPIREtoNanjing #RoadtoRio magic of 2013!

The AOC is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation, committed to the development of youth and sport. It is our responsibility to select, send and fund Australian Teams to the Olympic Games.

This is achieved by the support of our sponsors, contributions from the Australian Olympic Foundation (AOF), fundraising at corporate events and the backing of State and Territory Governments who donate to our Olympic Team Appeal.

The Australian Olympic Committee thanks all of our partners for their generous support of the Olympic athletes.